GWOPA, hosted by UN-Habitat, last week had the pleasure of welcoming for a first visit the Ms. Anacláudia Rossbach, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat, to our offices to meet the GWOPA Secretariat team and partners.
UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach and Bonn Mayor Guido Déus on the steps of the Old Town Hall on 2 July 2026
Bonn is known as Germany's "UN City," home to a growing number of United Nations offices and agencies working on everything from climate change to biodiversity to sustainable development. For UN-Habitat, Bonn holds special significance. It's where GWOPA, our Global Water Operators' Partnerships Alliance, is hosted, connecting utilities and water operators worldwide to strengthen access to safe water and sanitation in cities and communities.
The UN Bonn family now counts 27 entities. This year also marks 30 years of the UN's presence in Bonn. Meetings with the UN Family, opened by Ambassador Röken of the Federal Foreign Office, explored how we can work even more closely to create a better future for people and communities, including in the global implementation of GWOPA's work.
UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach (center) with GWOPA Secretariat staff during an office visit to the UN Campus in Bonn, Germany, on 2 July 2026
Meeting with Bonn's Mayor Guido Déus put the urban dimension front and center, highlighting that mayors are not just local administrators, but key international actors. The City of Bonn is a close supporter of GWOPA, including in holding our biannual Congresses.
In an exchange with urban planning researchers from five universities in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Executive Director Rossbach held lively conversations with the next generation of urban thinkers on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teaching in urban planning, the future of our cities, and why planning matters more than ever, including the provision of water and sanitation and the work of utilities, as spelled out in the New Urban Agenda.
The High-Level Meeting on the midterm review of the New Urban Agenda will take place at the High-level Political Forum in New York next week. The New Urban Agenda was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador, on 20 October 2016. It represents a shared vision for a better and more sustainable future. If well-planned and well-managed, urbanization can be a powerful tool for sustainable development for both developing and developed countries.
During her visit, the Executive Director highlighted that housing, water, climate, and sustainable urbanization are not separate challenges—they are threads of the same fabric, and cities are where they all come together. Her visit also underscored appreciation for the Government of Germany for hosting GWOPA and for the many partnerships that make the work of the Alliance possible.